Ranting and Raving

There are books out there called the figure; the figure in motion; the figure in deep perspective; the figure in 101 improbable-but-aesthetically-pleasing-in-a-euclidean-sense poses, etc. etc. etc. Where the hell is the book called "the figure doing ordinary things that everyday people do on a regular basis?" THAT's the book I want.

Staedtler is offering a technical pen set under their MARS brand which includes 1 pen Barrel and 4 nylon-tipped cartridges in different sizes: 0.25mm, 0.35mm, 0.5mm, and 0.7mm. I picked up a set at Wet Paint on my last visit to them, and used it to ink a comic.

The pens feel very nice as they make their marks--far smoother than the PITT Artist Pens. The nylon tips are more rigid than the PITTs' felt tips, giving better control over line width. Whereas the line widths on the Pitts vary as a function of writing pressure, the Mars pens retain their their width regardless of reasonable pressure applied.

The ink in the Staedtler cartridges is more durable than the ink in the PITT Pens, withstanding the erasure of pencil lines as well as the Higgins Eternal ink I use with my dip pens. The ink is also impervious to Copic's spirit markers, making it a suitable choice for the line work on a marker project.

The scheme of packaging the four cartridges with a single barrel has its ups and downs. The barrel is a significant ergonomic improvement over any of the stick-pens or tecnical pens out there (even Rapidograph). However, the task of swapping cartridges when one wants to change line-width is a bit cumbersome and can break one's stride while inking. At about $5.00 apiece, consumable costs are fairly high compared with Rapidographs or nibs. I do not know how long-lived these pens are compared with the PITTS, but both are easily more long lived than Zigs.

It would seem that these pens are designed to compete with the Rapidoliner cartridge based technical pen. The consumables cost is about half of Rapidoliner's and the pens feel better on paper. I liked inking with them well enough to continue using them, but I'm not completely sure I'll replace them as they become spent. That depends on whether I think the ink's durability is worth the inconvenience of swapping cartridges.

Today as I was leaving work I cleared my desk of the papers and vessels that accumulated over the past three days, so that I would have a clean desk to come into come Monday. A year ago today I performed a similar task, but for a different reason: It was the last day of my assignment to a food processing company, and it was my final clearing out of my stuff. On December 31 2002 I donned my coat, shut the lights, and stepped off the precipice into an uncertain future. 2003 brought me another six months of unemployment, with a brief stint at a construction design company for flavor. Finally, in July, I landed where I am now - a health insurance loss control company. It's not my ideal place, but cleaning a desk I would be coming back to in 2004 was certainly an improvement over last year's leap at the abyss. So I am grateful to have four days off in which I can relax rather than too many days off filled with anxiety.

2003 was a strange year for that. When morgan1 and I tilled the ground and planted our tomato seedlings, zucchini seedling and leek sprouts in the spring, we had no idea if we would still be on this land in the fall to taste those home-grown tomatoes, Zucchini and full grown leeks. She had been laid off two days before Christmas, 2002. After passing seven anxiety ridden months coming up with all sorts of contingency plans, though, we each stumbled into our current jobs; the home grown tomatoes found their way into salads, appetizers, and Morgan and I. (Mostly Morgan; her love of tomatoes is immoderate, perhaps even a little intemperate). The leeks were roasted, braised and stewed for many a Shabbat dinner, and even put in a curtain call in the stuffing at Thanksgiving. The zucchini met a similar fate, spending much of the summer being grilled and served with vinagrette alongside tuna steaks and cod fillets. It too made an appearance, as zucchini bread, on the Thanksgiving table, having been sliced and frozen expressly for the purpose. That's important to us, having produce from the garden on our table at Thanksgiving. Especially so since this year was so difficult that planting the garden was a tremendous leap of faith. But it doesn't end there, for tonight we will be sipping sparkling cider made from the pitted fruit of our senescent Bartlett pear tree. Our land has been kind to us, and we have escaped being cloven from it.

Cat-Tharsis went from concept to reality this year too. Much of my time unemployed was spent developing the concept, developing my artwork (which still bites, but has been improving) and developing the software that runs the site. I thank kevinjdog and rain_luong for the inspiration, morgan1 for all the help with world building and artistic guidance, and Unit423 of If Then Else for the advice and encouragement. And I further thank kevinjdog for a variety of opportunities to exercise my creative faculties. They've really kept the juices flowing.

What really got Cat-Tharsis out of development and onto the web was the need to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of Morgan's cat Rodent Baby. When I drew this strip I knew I had to display it, so that was the impetus for going live. Rodent was a high strung little cat, bound to hiss, growl, and spit at every tomcat she's met, but very loving and even a bit needy. Morgan had Rodent longer than she's had any other creature currently living with her, myself included, so the loss was, indeed, profound. Rodent herself seemed content to go, and, we think, has even given her blessing to the kitten, Maeve, that came into our lives in October.

All in all this has been a year of want and of bounty, of death and of life, of turning corners, renegotiating old friendships and forging new ones. I can't really say I'm sorry to see it goes, but I'm curious what the new one will bring; I am greeting it with greater hope than I've had in a while.

Drawing the strip was tough this weekend, because my mood was very weird and I could barely stay focused. Wound up finishing my pencilling tonight, which is also when I need to upload. So I inked quickly using Copic's new fountain pen which I picked up at Wet Paint on Saturday, instead of my usual Tachikawa dip pen in Higgins eternal ink. It saved me time which was at a premium, and the pen worked well. Way better than Tachikawa's fountain pen, which clogs if you look at it wrong. But generally, I prefer the dip pen. It forces me to work more deliberately. At some point I'll probably review the Copic fountain pen in arttips. I bought it mostly for sketching, rather than serious inking, but it does the job nicely and stands up well to the eraser.

The other thing that made getting the strip out a little weird is that my graphics workstation is wonky. For the past week or so the house has been filled with this, er, smell, whose source I have been trying in vain to locate. Then the spontaneous reboots started happening. I noticed the computer seemed a little toasty, and there was no exhalation from the Power Supply fan. So to get my stuff done I opened the case and I nearby window. This held my CPU temp at a nice stable 94F degrees, as opposed to the 140F it was reaching before rebooting spontaneously. So tomorrow, I guess I need to snag an ATX power supply somewhere. Ah well, it'll be a great opportunity to actually USE the power driver morgan1 got me for my birthday.

I had thought that this idea I had a couple years ago was obsolete when Abu Mazen became the PA's Prime Minister. I had dared to hope. But now that Arafat is once again asserting himself on the international stage, I figured I'd execute it, and use it as an excuse to play with my Pitt Pens.



Pitt artist pens on Arches Hot-Press watercolor sketch paper. I really need to learn to draw Sharon, the figure in there looks kind of like a generic Israeli politician. I am pleased with my Arafat, however.